


you had the absolute audacity to love me back

by listerspring



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Established Relationship, I love them so much, Idiots in Love, M/M, Post-Canon, firstprince, i miss them, ive gone soft, like three years from when the book ended, pls i couldnt resist theyre so cute, proposal, pure fluff, theyre in new york!, theyre living in the brownstone yall, this is a one shot i have no time for angst and MY HEART CANT TAKE ANGST ANYMORE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 05:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30117834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listerspring/pseuds/listerspring
Summary: The year is 2023, Henry and Alex have been living together for three years now and Henry is ready to take the next step in their relationship.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, June Claremont-Diaz/Nora Holleran/Percy "Pez" Okonjo
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	you had the absolute audacity to love me back

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic like,, ever. (except for ones i wrote when i was like 12 but WE DONT TALK ABOUT THEM)  
> pls tell me what you think and give me ur feedback!
> 
> i hope you enjoy !!:)
> 
> ALSO in the texting, alex is of course the lowercase and henrys has proper punctuation and capitalization dbjdbjk
> 
> EDIT: i just did all the formatting because ive been too busy since i uploaded this to do it and honestly im still figuring this all out. also today is my birthday! somehow i found time today of all days. anyway, once again i hope you enjoy :)

**Alex**  
My eyes fluttered open, my first thought, as it had been for the last three years, was of him. Henry. Sometimes I’m still astonished that we overcame all odds and now here we are, waking up in the same bed, _our bed_ , before getting ready for work.  
Or so I thought. I notice the lack of warmth usually surrounding me from his body, snuggled around me and I roll over, only to notice he's gone. The sheets don’t even hold any of his warmth.  
  
I jolt upwards looking back and forth only to notice him, sitting at our desk (our desk) in the bedroom, reading, with his messy blonde hair, glasses slipping down his nose as he leans down, clearly very invested in whatever book he’s got now.  
  
He must have heard me sit up because he’s now looking my way, with a smile on his face.  
  
“G’morning love”  
  
I roll out of bed, yawning, and begin towards him.  
  
“Morning”  
  
I reach him and lean down. He meets me in the middle and our lips meet. Nothing more than a peck, but somehow more intimate than anything I ever thought I’d have. _Our home. Our bedroom. Our life._ I’d never thought I’d have something like this.  
  
I reach down and scratch David behind his ears, where he's resting at Henry’s feet, and continue walking towards the door.  
  
“I’m gonna go make coffee, do you want anything?”  
  
“A tea, thank you” he replies with a loving smile, which after all this time still manages to make my heart warm. I smile back and then make my way down the stairs towards the kitchen, still smiling to myself and wondering how I ever got this lucky.  
  
I make our drinks and then I’m on my way back to our bedroom when I notice he's moved to the living room, sitting on the couch with his knees up to his chest, scratching David’s head absentmindedly as he scrolls through his phone.  
  
Who knew such a sight could make my heart squeeze, but of course it does. God, I love him.  
  
I make my way over to him and sit down next to him, with David between us of course. I hand him the tea and he looks up at me and smiles. I smile back and give him a peck on the cheek.  
  
“Hi love, how did you sleep?”  
  
“Not great, but I’ll be alright, work just never leaves my mind” he replies with a reassuring smile.  
  
I grab his hand and squeeze it, comfortable silence between us.  
  
We continue our morning as we usually would, sitting down having a drink, mostly not paying attention to the other, but always, always, holding each other's hand.  
  
Of course, the few moments of calm before our day starts quickly fades as we both get ready for work, well, me for school, him for work. I’m rushing around trying to get myself together, making sure I have everything I need for my classes today while he much more calmly gets ready to leave. I usually leave around the same time as him but today I have a class earlier than normal so I grab the last of my things, another coffee in a travel mug and I go over to him to say goodbye. I lean in and our lips touch. My intentions were for it to just be a quick peck but he deepens the kiss slightly. Before I can get caught up in it and ditch my class and make him late for work, I break the kiss.  
  
“I love you Hen, I'll see you later today,” I say with a loving smile on my face.  
  
“I love you too, have a good day,” he says as I walk out the door.  
  
It closes behind me and I sigh. Time to actually do work.  
  
**Henry**  
  
Once the door is closed behind him, I let out a sigh of relief. I miss him already, of course, as usual, but I need to focus on the task at hand. Surprising him tonight. There's so much to be done because I couldn't have prepared for it while he was here so I have my work cut out for me. He doesn't need to know until it’s time that I took a day off from the shelter.  
  
First, on my list of things to do, is cleaning. With both of us so busy lately, the place has become a mess. I know it's been stressing Alex out so the least I can do is help out.  
  
It takes a lot longer than I initially thought it would. It seems we let the house go a bit more than we realised.  
After a few hours, I'm done though.  
  
I check the time.  
  
12:00pm  
  
I need to go get stuff for dinner tonight.  
  
I grab my coat, wallet, and keys and make my way out of the brownstone. I start walking towards the nearest grocery store, PPOs falling into place behind me.  
  
I enter the store and go grab what I need to make tonight’s meal and I get a few things not as important.  
  
Candles and champagne, of course.  
  
I’m so nervous about tonight.  
  
I pat the pocket of my coat, locating the small box and taking a deep breath.  
  
Rationally, I know he won’t say no. That doesn’t mean I feel calm about it. This is a big step but I know we’re ready for it. We’ve been ready for it for a long time now. We’ve had so many conversations about it and there is no doubt in my mind about whether or not he wants to spend the rest of our lives together.  
  
I’m still fucking terrified about it though.  
  
I go check out and make my way back to the brownstone. I need to start food preparations now because I do not trust myself to get it right the first time and it will take me a while. Cooking isn’t exactly my strong suit. He was always the cook in our couple. But I want to try, to put in an effort for tonight.  
  
**Alex**  
  
I’ve finally finished my classes for the day, but I’m not going home yet, unfortunately. I have mountains of homework and so I head over to the NYU Law Library and settle in for the new few hours of work. I message Henry  
  
**HRH Prince Dickhead💩**  
3:07p.m.  
unfortunately, i have a shit ton of work to do so i probs wont  
be home until 7 :(  
3:15p.m.  
That’s okay, love. I’ll see you tonight x.  
Text me when you’re on your way.  
3:16p.m.  
okay  
aghh who knew law school would actually be difficult.  
3:16p.m.  
You’ve got this, I believe in you  
3:16p.m.  
why would you let me do this to myself? im bored hen >:(  
Read  
  
Rude.  
  
I guess I’ll do work then.  
  
**Henry**  
  
I’m actually kind of glad he won’t be back for a while. Attempting to make dinner has been a disaster. I somehow managed to burn all the food. Nothing is salvageable. I guess it's time to give up and scrape the remains and then scrub everything until there's no evidence of my failure.  
_  
Finally, after what seems like forever, the kitchen is clean again.  
  
I check the time.  
  
6:00pm  
  
I see a new message from Alex  
ill be finished earlier than i thought, leaving in 15.  
  
Crap, I need to order the takeout now.  
  
After I get back with the Chinese takeout, I frantically run around the brownstone, lighting candles, getting the champagne, getting dressed, checking my pocket again, and then I hear a key turn in the door and he’s here.  
  
“Hi love”  
  
I walk over to him as his bag drops to the floor and he takes his coat off and sighs.  
  
He puts his arms around me, burying his face in my chest while I breathe him in.  
  
“I missed you,” he says, muffled by my body.  
  
“i missed you too, come and eat with me, i got takeout”  
  
He grasps my hand and we go into the dining room. He looks around as he sees the candles around the room, the takeout on the table, and the bottle of champagne next to two glasses.  
  
“What’s the occasion?” he asks, looking up at me with a small smile on his face.  
  
“No occasion, I just wanted us to have a nice night”  
  
“Have I told you how much I love you recently? because it’s like, a lot”  
  
“You may have mentioned it once or twice” I reply, with a sheepish smile.  
  
He sits down, relaxing finally, and pours us each a glass.  
  
I sit next to him and we dig into the food.  
  
**Alex**  
  
I can’t believe he did this all for me and claims there's no reason. There must be something important happening today. I know it’s not his birthday, that was last week and I, I remember it well. There has to be something I’m forgetting.  
  
Oh well. I’m not going to turn down champagne and Chinese food.  
  
We continue eating, asking each other how their day was. I find out that he wasn’t at the shelter today. There has to be something I’m forgetting, Henry doesn’t take days off just because.  
  
“Am I forgetting something? There has to be some reason why you've made such a fuss for dinner tonight and why you weren't at the shelter”  
  
He looks up from his food, his cheeks turning red. I’m so confused.  
  
He puts the takeout container down on the table and turns to face me more.  
  
“You’re not forgetting anything. Today is special but you don’t know why. Yet”  
  
He’s not clearing any of this up for me so far.  
  
“I’m so confused.”  
  
He smiles. My heart flutters.  
  
He reaches into the pocket of his pants, pulling something out, but I can't see what it is yet.  
  
Whatever it is, he leaves it on his lap as he reaches over the table holding my hands.  
  
“Alex, I love you so much-”  
  
“I love you too, why are you being weird?”  
  
“I wasn't done.”  
  
A shiver goes down my spine. Stop, Alex this is not the time.  
  
“As I was saying, I love you so much. I have for years. I can’t envision a future where you aren't by my side. I want to be with you for the rest of my life.  
  
He gets off his chair and down on one knee and I finally see what he got out of his pocket. A small jewellery box. One a ring would go in.  
I gasp. I feel tears pricking at my eyes.  
  
“Henry-”  
  
He opens the box.  
  
“Alex, will you marry me?”  
  
His voice shakes as he says this.  
  
Tears are running down my face.  
  
“Yes, yes, yes of course I’ll marry you, you dumbass!”  
  
He stands up from where he's kneeling and puts the ring on my finger and kisses me. I wrap my arms around his neck as he put his hands on my waist.  
After a moment, the kiss breaks.  
  
With my arms still around his neck, tears running down both our faces now, I whisper.  
  
“I love you so fucking much.”  
  
“I love you too”  
_  
Later, we first call June. She answers and Nora, Pez and her face show up.  
  
I definitely don’t want to think about why they’re all together on a Friday night.  
  
I hold up my left hand.  
  
“We’re engaged!”  
  
“FINALLY,” they all say over the phone.  
  
“Fuck off,” I say, laughing.  
  
They're not wrong. It’s been almost two years since Henry and I first started officially ‘courting’. Oh well.  
  
“We’re all so happy for you both!”  
  
“Thank you” Henry and I both say.  
  
“We have to go now, we have parents to tell and announcements to make but we wanted y’all to be the first to know,” I say.  
  
“Yes, go go now, I’ll talk to you later” June replies.  
  
“Byeeeeeee”  
  
Next on the list is Bea. She congratulates us but has to go shortly after as it’s quite late in the UK  
  
We call my mom and dad next, they’re happy for us, as expected, and tell us that they’re there if we need anything.  
  
After I get off the phone with them, Henry leaves my side. He said he needs to call his mum.  
  
**Henry**  
  
As soon as she answers the phone I start speaking.  
  
“I did it. I proposed. We’re engaged.”  
  
I start crying. Again.  
  
“It’s about time, I’m proud of you Hen and so so happy for Alex and you.”  
  
“Thank you again for giving me Dad’s ring, mum. I know how difficult that would’ve been for you.”  
  
“You don’t need to thank me, honey. I know how much you love Alex and it's being put to much better use now than it has been since your Dad passed.”  
  
“I love you mum, I need to go now to get back to Alex.”  
  
“Okay, okay get back to your fiance”  
  
I smile. He’s my fiance. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that that would be the case.  
  
“Bye, mum”  
  
I walk into our room where Alex is leaning against the headboard. I go and lie next to him, resting my head on his chest.  
  
I look up at him. He kisses me.  
  
And I’m so in love I could die.  
_  
**@acdiaz**  
never tell me the odds. only a few years ago, i never thought that in my wildest dreams that this would be my future. somehow, it is. henry, the love of my life, proposed to me tonight. we’re engaged. we made history y’all. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading :)
> 
> im rooney-olsson on tumblr :)


End file.
